Alessandro Coppari, (over) Mezzometro of pizza

Finding out about this craveable destination in Senigallia - with a branch in Jesi - where you can taste cut-to-size specialties with great toppings

28-01-2019 | 16:00

Alessandro Coppari

Where can you eat pizza “by the meter”? In the Peninsula of Sorrento, of course, the home to this type of “made-to-measure” pizza where they registered the patent in the Sixties; but not only there. Alessandro Coppari makes an excellent one in Senigallia (and Jesi), different from the original, though that was what inspired him. Of course he called his restaurant Mezzometro (Lungomare Da Vinci33. Tel. +39 071 60578, senigallia.mezzometro.it), which in our opinion is the minimum size you should order to enjoy his pizza.

The career that led him to become one of the most appreciated pizzaioli in the Marche – and beyond – is peculiar. After being a professional baseball player, and working as a metalworker, Alessandro decided to drop everything and follow his passion for pizza. He ended up in Calabria, to learn the job, and then returned to Senigallia where a season as aiuto-pizzaiolo made him fall in love with pizza for good, and led him to deepen his knowledge with more courses and experiences in the Marche. Four years later, he took over that same place on Lungomare Da Vinci where he first began, as they were going through a rough patch.

He took the challenge, and decided to focus on pizza al metro – following what he learnt from Riccardo Menon – to whom he dedicated the restaurant. «Here in Senigallia there’s lots of work in the summer, but winters are hard. We needed something different, we had to rethink the service and the menu so I decided to offer pizza by the metre». He won the bet, and in 2010 Mezzometro opened a second branch in Jesi run by his brother Alessio.

The secret? A light and easy to digest dough (based on stone-milled flour, with high hydration and a long and careful maturation. Indeed, Mezzometro is a Petra Selected Partner) and seasonings based on a nice selection of often local raw materials (a constant work in progress, Coppari is currently attending a professional cooking course in Torino) like the pizza alla pala with Pecorino from Monti Sibillini and broad beans from Fratte Rosa or the one with fresh tomato, garlic, chilli pepper confit, basil and prawns with saffron cooked in oil.

Part of the merit also goes to the sharing format which invites you to go back to taste some more. They now have 4 – sometimes 5 – types of dough: the pizza alla pala baked in the wood oven (soft, like the Neapolitan one, but baked on the peel in the Roman tradition), the traditional red one, the gluten free pizza and the “gourmet” focaccia, often with “alternative” flour, served in slices and with well-researched seasonings. In this case, the special texture, crispy outside and soft inside, is guaranteed by the poolish made with mother yeast and a gel of jarvicella wheat, anancient variety from the Marche whose stalks are traditionally used to make the hay hats typical of Montappone.